It is perhaps the most enduring ritual in revolutionary Iran: the
late-night summons, the slow walk along bleak prison corridors, and
finally the waiting firing squad. Last week the executioners' guns took
aim, on the specific orders of the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, at one
of the founding figures of the Islamic revolution that swept away Shah
Reza Pahlavi in February 1979: Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, 46, the man who
sprang to international prominence as Iran's Foreign Minister during
the U.S. hostage crisis. Ghotbzadeh was shot after a 26-day...